


The Dwight Stuff Pizza

by SathTrash



Series: KittyLupin's FAHC Universe [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Fake AH Crew, Jeremy's a pizza delivery boy, Jury Duty, Lawyer Lindsay, M/M, dorky ryan, jailbreak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2018-10-01 11:03:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10188518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SathTrash/pseuds/SathTrash
Summary: Jeremy Dooley is the late night delivery boy for The Dwight Stuff Pizza, one night they get a call around one am for a delivery to the penthouse of the building it's rumored the Fake AH Crew lives in.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a really dumb but super cute little comic I saw a couple months ago, and was originally posted on my tumblr (sathtrash) in late December 2016, I just thought the comic I saw was funny and it'd be cool to expand on it a bit in my own way.  
> I got the idea to write up something for this au from [funfahcts](http://funfahcts.tumblr.com/post/154712311091/remember-the-mole-haywoodmorelikegaywood%22) (who finished off with the funniest part of the text post that made me decide to do this) [ and ](http://funfahcts.tumblr.com/post/154712311091/remember-the-mole-haywoodmorelikegaywood</a)[armadil-lauren](http://miss-ingno.tumblr.com/post/157623405642/armadil-lauren-based-off-of-this-post) (who did the previously mentioned comic) on tumblr

Frankly, Jeremy hated his job. Working in food service you have to deal with a hell of a lot of weird and shitty people, this was only magnified by being a delivery boy, it’s hard to avoid creepy customers when you have to literally go to their house to give them their food.

However, working as a delivery boy for a popular pizzaria, The Dwight Stuff Pizza, had it’s perks. When you worked delivery you could pinch a few dollars off the top here and there from orders and if anyone asks you can say you got stiffed for an order, or a delivery didn’t get picked up by the person who ordered it which would make sense in Los Santos, in a gang city not everyone is reliable in picking up orders, it was easy for him to spin the lies and supply them to his boss. 

The best job he ever ended up on was also the weirdest. It was late, almost 1 am when he got sent out again, there had been a lull in delivery orders, most of their business after midnight came from people coming in after nights out drinking, and Jeremy had been sitting around for awhile by then with nothing to do. The order was to one of the ritzier parts of town, the apartment that the Fake AH Crew was rumored to live in, there were two pizzas in the order and a box of garlic fingers, and they were all loaded into Jeremy’s shitty car within a half hour and he was off. 

The order went to the penthouse of the building, and Jeremy was glad for the elevator because altogether the building had ten floors and it would’ve been killer to climb that many flights of stairs. When Jeremy knocked on the front door his hands were shaking, he had never been in a place this fancy in his life, and the fact that the Fakes might live here made it all the more nerve wracking.

The person who answered the door wore a black skull mask. He was tall and reasonably muscular, with a blond ponytail draped over his shoulder from underneath the mask. When he spoke the man’s muffled voice was pleasant. 

“How much do I owe ya?”

“Uh, uh th-thirty-five fifty” he managed to stutter out the price, holding the pizza boxes out to the man. 

“Ah, alright” the man in the mask took the boxes, balancing them in one arm as he thrust a hundred dollar bill at Jeremy. “Thanks kid, and keep the change.”

With that the door was shut unceremoniously in Jeremy’s face. Jeremy stumbled his way back out to his car, made change for the hundred and pocketed it for himself.

It became something of a routine, at least once every week or two The Dwight Stuff would get a call for delivery late at night, usually around 1 or 2 in the morning, and Jeremy would drive over two pizzas and a box of garlic fingers, get a hundred dollar bill, and pocket the change for himself. 

He knew the man in the skull mask was the Vagabond from the Fake AH Crew, anyone in LS knew that mask, but it was a few weeks of deliveries before he learned his real name. 

Standing outside the door he was far more comfortable than the first time he’d been, especially with the idea of an extra 65 bucks lining his pocket after this delivery. When the Vagabond answered the door he was, for the first time, missing his mask and instead had face paint smeared over his face and a grin on his lips.

“Hey Jeremy, what’s up?”

“Oh nothin really, got your pizzas here and then I’m off work for the night” 

“You got any plans for after your shift?” the Vagabond offered him the hundred and Jeremy pocketed it and handed him the boxes. 

“I’m gonna go home and crash, it’s been a long shift,” he paused for a moment, eyebrows drawing together “Hey, what’s your name anyway?” 

The Vagabond smiled self-deprecatingly, shaking his head. 

“Ryan, my names Ryan” he paused, laughing at himself “Been on a first name basis with you for weeks and you still don’t know my name, my mom’d kill me for being so rude” Jeremy laughed with him. 

“Well it’s not too bad considering most people don’t care enough to be on a first name basis with the pizza boy in the first place” Jeremy shrugged “Anyway, I’ll see ya next week Ryan” Jeremy smiled and gave him a slight wave before he walked back into the elevator and headed out. 

Months passed after that exchange, once a week, every week, sometimes more, but always at least once, Ryan would answer the door in the black skull mask or his red, white, and black face paint, he and Jeremy would chat pleasantly about this and that, Ryan would pay with a hundred, and Jeremy would head off, he’d pocket the change off the hundred and a few bucks here and there from the night’s profits, and go back to the shop to clock out for the night. 

After delivering to the penthouse somewhere close to six months Jeremy finally saw Ryan’s face properly, no face paint, no skull mask, just his face, and frankly he was really cute. He answered the door in a suit that night, the jacket open at the waist and the button-down unbuttoned three down from the collar, his hair was loose for the first time too and Jeremy couldn’t help being struck by him, it was weird to see Ryan without something on his face, it had been months since they first met and it was the first time he’d ever seen him like this. And at first, he didn’t recognize him. 

“Hey Ry-” he cut himself off, clearing his throat “Oh, uh sorry, sir, I didn’t realize someone else had moved in here…” he trailed off, confused, the order was the same as usual, but the man at the door was not.

“What are you talking about Jeremy? It’s just me” Ryan raised an eyebrow at him, confused. 

“Oh uh… you, you clean up real well” Jeremy said, flustered, thrusting the pizzas out to Ryan. 

“Oh, thanks Jeremy, that’s really nice of you to say” Ryan grinned at him and handed over the hundred “Enjoy your down time tonight Jeremy, see you next week!” 

“Y-yeah, see you next week” Jeremy waved slightly as he headed to the elevator, trying to pretend to himself that he wasn’t blushing bright red. 

The next week when the bell rang, Ryan opened the door in his face paint like usual, a grin on his face. 

“Hey Jere-” he paused and frowned, instead of the familiar pizza boy, a girl stood at the door with their order, she was petite and brunette and a pair of glasses sat low on her nose “Where’s Jeremy?”

“The guy with the red hair?” the girls brows furrowed.

“Yeah, that guy”

“Oh, he was like pinching money off the top on his delivery jobs, he got arrested after his shift last Friday” the girl shrugged and held the pizzas out to Ryan “That’ll be thirty-five fifty please”

“Yeah, I know the fuckin price” Ryan thrust the money into her hand, took the pizzas and slammed the door behind him, and stormed into the kitchen where the others sat around the kitchen table in various states of fatigue after having come back from a pretty draining robbery earlier that evening. 

After setting the pizzas on the counter Ryan walked over to the kitchen table and slammed his hands down on the table top, jolting Geoff out of his half-sleep and drawing a disapproving noise from Jack.

“You know the kid that delivers our post-job pizzas every week?” he asked as he started to pace. Everyone in the crew had opened the door at least once when Jeremy had brought their dinner, making pleasant small talk after calling Ryan to the door to pay. 

“What about him?” Gavin asked from his perch on the kitchen island. 

“We gotta fuckin break him outta jail, that’s what.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew makes plans on how to get Jeremy out of trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh, a bunch of you asked for more so? I wrote more? I'm planning on working this into a short ficlet sort of deal, so this second chapter is not the end of it

It took longer than expected to plan the jailbreak. No one in the crew had ever actually ended up in jail during their stay in Los Santos, so they had never had to plan for this, but Jeremy was worth it. Everyone in the crew had gotten to know him at least a little bit and all were fond of the goofy little guy with his bright hair, but none so fond as Ryan.

Ryan had made every delivery call, had paid for every delivery at the door, he and Jeremy had gotten pretty close, they had talked about why Jeremy was in LS, he was trying to work his way through community college, and Ryan had told him a little about his ragtag little family. He knew Jeremy knew that he was delivering to the Fake AH Crew, but he never reported their location to police, which made him trustworthy in Ryan’s eyes, as well as Geoff’s.

So, he worked tirelessly with the others for over a month to try and get Jeremy out. Unfortunately, there was a lot of circumstantial evidence stacked against him, and he wasn’t able to post bail because he was by himself out here in LS, and it’d be suspicious if he made bail by an anonymous benefactor, so they lay in wait, and Ryan planned. They funneled small amounts into Jeremy’s commissary account, kept an eye on things by getting Gavin to hack into the security cameras in the county jail, and they kept in touch with their police contact who they were paying extra at the time to keep an eye on Jeremy’s case.

A month after Jeremy’s arrest one of Ryan’s fake identities got called in for jury duty. It was one he hadn’t used in ages, but he had been going under the alias that was called in when he came to LS and had registered it to vote just for shits. Ryan would have refused, but he had a good feeling about this, a feeling that, maybe for once, luck might be on his side, and they wouldn’t need to properly break into a jail after all. He went to Meg and Gavin for help, the two were close friends and extremely fashion forward, and Ryan, well, Ryan dressed like a dad going to pick up his kids from school on a good day, and like the Vagabond on every other day, neither of those looks was exactly appropriate for conning a couple of lawyers into putting him on the Jury. So his best bet was letting Gavin and Meg play dress up with him. He let it happen, and the two went with the dad vibe Ryan already had going for him in regular clothes, a two piece dark brown suit, some beat up second-hand loafers from a Salvation Army near the Ammunation the crew frequented, and a pair of non-prescription dad-style glasses. He refused to cut his hair, so Gavin and Meg just went with it, told him to leave it in a low ponytail and they could make it work as a sort of ‘growing his hair out to pretend it isn’t thinning’ vibe.

-

The first day of trial hearings and jury selection proved Ryan right for actually bothering with jury duty. The complainant and the accused were both present with their lawyers. The complainant was an aging, angry looking white guy with thinning salt and pepper hair, he was the kind of guy that Ryan knew for a fact he’d have mugged on a street corner just because of the prick’s attitude towards, well, everybody. The accused was Jeremy, he looked stressed and tired, like he was ready to give up, and it seemed like his public defender felt about the same. Ryan made note of that guy’s lack of actual care about the case and told himself he’d get Geoff to send over someone better for the actual trial.

The group of jury hopefuls around Ryan consisted of another couple dad-looking guys, two college aged kids who were probably going to UCLS judging by how clean cut they looked for twenty-somethings. Some business guys, a few women who looked like they were probably moms, one of whom reminded him vividly of Jack just from her demeanor, and he hoped like hell she’d get to stay, he knew he could get her on his side. The other few people seemed to be pretty normal, working people, a couple of younger college kids here and there, some who looked like the clean-cut kids he pegged as UCLS students, and some who were more likely going to community college, trade school, or working part-time somewhere that treated their workers as badly as the Dwight Stuff Pizza place did. Ryan had a feeling he’d be able to sway this little group, no matter the evidence against Jeremy.

Over the course of two hours the jury was wittled down to it’s twelve official jurors, which included Ryan, one of the other dad-looking guys, the woman who reminded him of Jack, another mom-looking woman, and a couple of the college-aged kids, the two clean-cut UCLS kids, and some of the business guys, and six alternate jurors who would sit in on the trial just in case the other jurors fucked up and fell victim to external biases. Which Ryan, or Christopher as his current Dad-Guy persona was called, definitely did _not_ have.

When Ryan returned home he was silently fuming. Jeremy’s public defender had made absolutely no effort to interact with the jury in any way that could possibly help Jeremy’s case, he had just sat back while the lawyer representing the owner of the pizzeria had done all the work. Ryan was lucky he looked so generic for once in his life or else he’d never have gotten picked.

He found Geoff in his office with a glass of whiskey and his reading glasses low on his nose, staring down at some paperwork.

“So, I got on the jury”

“That’s good, how’s the kid looking? He stand a chance?” Geoff looked up at him, pushing the glasses up into his hair.

“If I hadn’t gotten picked he probably wouldn’t have much of a chance in hell. There’s a lot of circumstantial evidence and some orders and receipts and shit that stack against him.” Ryan sighed and freed his hair from the elastic holding it back “I think I can work with it though, there’s a couple of over-worked college kids on the jury too, and a woman that reminded me a hell of a lot of Jack, I think I can win them over. There’s a couple people that might be harder to get over, but I think I can do it.”

“Good, that’s good. That kid was pinching money for months before he got caught, and I’m sure it was only by some kind of crazy coincidence they got him, I want that kid in this crew. But most of all, we all want him safe, whether he decides to join up or not, he doesn’t deserve prison.”

“Well if we’re gonna keep him out there’s only so much I can do with the public defender he’s got. The guy’s a lazy ass, didn’t do shit during the jury appointment today like you’d expect him to. Jeremy needs someone who’s actually gonna try and get him off.” Ryan said simply, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

“I’ll give Hullum a call and see if he can’t get us a new lawyer in there for him for tomorrow at the latest. When’s the trial set to start?” Geoff shuffled his paperwork a bit and shoved it into a portfolio, which he slipped into his desk drawer carefully.

“Next Monday, the presiding judge has other cases he’s working the next couple days, so we’re starting as early as possible for him I guess.”

“Alright, that’s good, that’ll definitely give the new lawyer enough time to pull together some kind of defence, you in the mean time, don’t spoil yourself on any outside coverage of the court proceedings,” he paused and glanced at his watch “And go wash up, Jack’s gonna have dinner on the table any minute now, and she always knows when you haven’t washed up for it” he smiled fondly and stood from his desk, slamming back the rest of his whiskey.

“Yeah, I’ll meet you out there, you want me to get Gavin and Michael?”

“Yeah, they should be out in the garage, Gavin brought back another one of those fuckin’ death traps today and they’re tryin’ to figure out how to supe it up more than it is” he shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose “I wish you’d never taught the two a them how to ride motorcycles, this shit isn’t good for my heart.”

“Yeah yeah, you’re not that old yet Geoff” Ryan replied with a smile, slapping Geoff lightly on the back before they both left his office.

-

When Ryan walked into the garage he found Michael and Gavin talking excitedly, heads bowed low over the new bike Gavin had brought home.

“Geoff sent me out to get you guys for dinner, he says it’ll be ready soon” Ryan said, abruptly ending their chatter.

“Ryan! How’d the jury thing go?” Gavin asked as he popped up to his feet, hands planted on the seat of the bike, leaning over it.

“It went pretty well, I’m on the jury for Jeremy’s trial, it starts Monday” he said, leaning against the doorway, hands shoved in his pockets. “Now come on, I’ll tell you guys all about it at the table, but if we don’t get in and wash up Jack’ll have our heads and you know it.”

“Yeah, you’re right” Michael conceded, pushing himself up from his knees, brushing the dust from his jeans “You know what she’s making or what? Me and Gav have been out here all afternoon”

“No idea buddy, I’ve only been home a twenty minutes, so it’ll be a surprise for all of us.”

“I do like surprises” Gavin said simply, walking around the bike, following on Michael’s heels to the door. “How’d he look today? Do you think Jeremy’s doing alright?” he asked as the walked up the stairs from the garage and onto the main floor.

“I don’t know Gav, he looked tired, stressed, it seemed like he was holding it together though, head held high, poker face on, shoulders straight, the whole nine yards” Ryan paused and sighed heavily, shaking his head “All I can say is that once we get him out I really hope I never have to watch any of you assholes go through that again. And today was just the jury selection, it’s gonna be worse from here unfortunately.”

“Have they got much on him?” Michael asked as they reached the elevator.

“Lot a circumstantial stuff mostly, but the guy that owns the pizza place has some receipts and order slips that match up just enough that it’s technically as good as physical evidence to his lawyer it seems like” Ryan punched the up button a little too hard, he didn’t want to feel defeated by this but he wasn’t quite as sure that he could win the others over as he’d told Geoff.

“You can do it Ry-bread, we all believe in you, and Jeremy needs you! And we need him, we’re uneven since Ray left, and we need a new Lad” Gavin lightly clapped Ryan on the back, smiling at him, holding his other hand out in front of him to flex the fingers that read Lads across their scarred knuckles, they all had those tattoos, and Gavin and Michael had been sore about being two on three ever since Ray had left. Ryan shook his head, smiling fondly, glancing down at his own knuckles, Gent spelled in loopy script across his fingers, still somewhat obscured by the makeup that Gavin had applied to hide the tattoo for the jury selection earlier that day. “You _can_ do it Ryan, next to me and Jack you’re the most charming of us” Gavin nudged him lightly, grinning wickedly at him. Ryan just shook his head and reached out to ruffle up Gavin’s hair.

“I’ll do my best, I can’t make any promises, but trust me, I want that kid here, safe, with us.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy meets his new lawyer and we gear up for the trial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hey, hi, hello, it's me, back again after a long break (sorry sorry) this fic was giving me some trouble writer's block wise this chapter, but I hope to be faster on the next update. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Jeremy had never been so scared in his life. He had grown up in a rough neighborhood back in Boston, with a dad that thought a back hand was the best form of discipline and a mom too scared to do anything to help him. He was no stranger to living on the wild side and dwelling in danger, he had been involved in gangs back home, when your parents struggle to make ends meet your whole life you find ways to help where you can, and in Boston, for Jeremy, that had been gangs. He was small which made him unassuming, and back then he was slimmer too, less muscular, he had been the best pickpocket for miles, he was an even better tough guy if he said so himself, he was lithe and fast then, and knew his way around a knife. But he had never been to prison. Sure, he did a couple terms in juvy as a young teen, petty theft and vandalism mostly, he had so loved to tag the Rimmy colours around town, but nothing like this. He had overheard Mr. Jenks asking his lawyer if they could get him charged and convicted of some sort of embezzlement. Jeremy had no idea how long embezzlement could land you in jail for, but he knew it’d be a hell of a lot longer than petty theft would get you. And he knew they could frame it up for more than just theft, he’d been delivering for Jenks for almost a year, and had been pinching money for about nine months of that.

Jeremy knew for sure he was fucked. Or, he did until he caught sight of Ryan sitting on the jury end of the selection. He wouldn’t have recognized him if it weren’t for the dark blond ponytail and bright blue eyes. The ugly, thick-framed glasses couldn’t hide those baby blues, especially with how they had bore into Jeremy, like Ryan was looking at his soul from across the room. Now he thought he might stand at least a sliver of a chance. Ryan was a good buddy, and the identity he was going under, Christopher Gerard, was exactly what Jenks’ lawyer wanted on the jury; Ryan, as Christopher, claimed to own a small business on the south side of LS, have a wife and a couple of young kids, and his looks played well to that. It took Jeremy too long to realize that that was the plan, that Ryan was clearly _trying_ to get picked for this. Jeremy genuinely had no idea why. Sure, Ryan was a good guy, Jeremy even considered him a friend, one of the only ones he had made since moving to LS, but still, Ryan had a hell of a lot more to lose here than Jeremy did, Ryan had a wanted list longer than Jeremy was tall, yet here he was, sitting in on jury selection, purposefully _trying_ to get put on the jury.

When he had seen him, Jeremy had silently thanked God that Ryan always wore a mask or face paint out as The Vagabond.

Now though, as Jeremy sat in his cell at the county jail he wasn’t so sure it really was a blessing. What if Ryan had come to condemn him? Or worse, what if Ryan were found out? Not a single member of the crew had come to visit him, but that made sense, this was a jail, if anyone saw the goddamned Fake AH Crew waltzing into the LS County Jail for visiting hours on a Sunday they’d all be hauled in themselves for a hell of a lot of charges. So that wasn’t really evidence that the crew wanted to condemn Jeremy, and there had been money coming from nowhere into his commissary, which would have to be from the crew, because he had no one out here to do it for him, even if his dead-beat father could afford to do it, so that was a point in his favour.

The more he thought about it, the more it made his head spin. He was just some random kid, he wasn’t even old enough to drink yet, other than pickpocketing and roughing people up he really had no skills valuable to a gang, and he certainly didn’t think he could provide any significant muscle to the Fakes when they had Michael and _Ryan_ for Christ sakes! The two of them, while not built like a brick shithouse, knew what they were doing in a fist fight, Jeremy watched the news, and he had seen both in person, his Boston street fight, punch and run style couldn’t hold a candle to the two of them, and he knew it. What could the crew possibly want with him? He wasn’t even that good at sleight of hand anymore apparently, since he’d got fucking caught pinching money. He couldn’t even do what he thought he did best anymore.

He was a shrimp at the mercy of Gods. And he fucking knew it.

He couldn’t possibly be an asset to the crew, to his knowledge none of them had ever been caught by the cops before. Well, at least not long enough to make it into the station. If anything Jeremy would be a liability, he had a mug shot, prints that were on the LS police system, a whole trial that had been laid out before him, and no real skills, other than being built like a brick shit house, and without knowing how to fight well enough, he was even useless as muscles.

So he sat in his cell, and worried. Worried he’d get convicted, worried that if he _didn’t_ his college would kick him out for the bad publicity to the school, worried that someone in employ of the law would figure out that the fucking _Vagabond_ was on the goddamn jury for a dumb kid trying to get by in the shittiest way possible. That was the worst part, thinking that Ryan might be found out. Jeremy would way prefer going to prison than watching Ryan go down trying to help him.

Eventually Jeremy had to force Ryan from his mind, worrying for his friend would only make him feel worse than he already did, it’d be better if he could just forget he’d even noticed Ryan, forget he was even on fucking trial, so he laid back on his bunk and stared at the ceiling, before finally closing his eyes and trying to think of anything but Ryan.

-

Jeremy woke with a start the next morning, a guard had banged on his cell bars with the end of his flashlight, thoroughly horrifying him.

“Your lawyer’s here” the guard said, sliding his flashlight back into it’s loop on his belt “Wants to speak with you about your trial” Jeremy blinked in confusion and just nodded, standing from his bunk, and followed the guard out of the cell block and into the private conference type rooms they used for interrogations.

Sitting at the table with her back to him was a petite red-haired woman, her legs crossed at the knee, and her fiery hair pulled up into a demure looking bun at the crown of her head, there was a briefcase on the table in front of her. Jeremy noticed her head cock to the side as the door opened.

“Thank you for bringing him in C.O. Matovina. That’ll be all” she said without turning to look at them. The C.O. grunted an acknowledgement and left the room, shutting the door with a soft thud. “Why don’t you come sit Mr. Dooley, it’ll make this meeting far easier on the both of us if you’re not hovering in the doorway like a nervous prom date”

“Sorry, I just… I didn’t know they were giving me a new public defender this close to the trial” he said after finally regaining his voice. He moved towards the other side of the table and took his seat, smoothing his fingers through his hair, trying to look at least kind of put together.

“Oh no, I’m not a public defender” she said, smiling warmly at him “I’m Lindsay Tuggey, a real lawyer who’s actually planning on trying to win this trial” she offered him a hand across the table, which he took and shook, still feeling very confused.

“That’s really awesome of you but, uh, I-I can’t pay you for this, I don’t have the kind of money a real lawyer wants” he couldn’t help the panic that was starting to rise in his voice. He could deal with the shitty public defender because he knew, at the end of this whether he won the case or not, it wasn’t his job to pay the guy.

“Don’t worry about it kid, Ramsey called in a favour, it’s on the Fakes” she said simply, pulling the files out of her briefcase “So, this is your first arrest here in Los Santos?”

“Uh y-yeah it is” he stuttered, utterly confused. Ramsey? That was the Fakes’ boss. Why the ever-loving Christ would Ramsey call in a favour just to get him a lawyer?

“How many prior arrests have you had elsewhere?” she asked, breaking him out of his train of thought.

“Um, four, I think, four arrests back in Boston, two were for fighting and they let me off with a warning both times, the other two, one was petty theft, and the other was for vandalism, I was charged for both of those”

“Alright, what did you pinch on the petty theft charge?” she had begun to take rapid fire notes on a notepad she had seemingly materialized from somewhere inside her briefcase, but Jeremy wasn’t sure when it had gotten on the table.

“I uh” he paused for a moment, embarrassed to admit it “It was a couple of candy bars and a ham and cheese sandwich from a grocery store near my high school” he said finally, his hands curling into defensive fists in his lap just thinking about it.

“Why did you steal the candy and the sandwich, Mr. Dooley?” she looked up from her notes, looking at him expectantly.

“I… I hadn’t eaten anything in almost four days” he said, his voice hushed, ashamed “We didn’t have any food in the house and I had no cash, my dad wasn’t gonna get paid for another few days and I was starving.” When he looked up at Miss Tuggey from his lap he was surprised by the look on her face, she seemed a little shocked by the admission, concerned for the kid Jeremy had been.

“How old were you at the time, Mr. Dooley?” she asked finally.

“I’d just turned fifteen… I wasn’t old enough to work yet but I was still tryin’ to get a job, but no one’s gonna hire a kid under legal working age” He looked away from her again, biting the inside of his cheek.

“I think you may have given us an angle to play with that story, Mr. Dooley.” Miss Tuggey said after a long moment of silence.

“Huh? What d’you mean?”

“How much does Mr. Jenks pay you an hour, Mr. Dooley?”

“Minimum wage, so seven or eight bucks? I think?” he paused “I’m not sure where you’re goin with this Miss”

“How much is your apartment rent, and your tuition at school? I know your apartment is relatively small, I asked Jack to go check it out for me - she certainly is quick and thorough. And how many hours does Jenks give you weekly?”

Jeremy had to pause and think about it for a long moment, adding everything up in his head.

“My apartment is about seven-fifty a month, heat, water, and electricity are included in the rent, and my tuition per semester is I think around a thousand or so?” he paused again, trying to count how many hours he’d been getting before the arrest “And I think I was working around twenty hours a week? Maybe a little more, mostly night shifts.” He watched Miss Tuggey furiously scribble down her notes, grinning manically.

“We absolutely have our angle here Mr. Dooley. Are you comfortable talking about your previous arrest in court? We need to play sympathy here with the jury, Ryan can’t carry the whole thing alone, you need some real impartial members on your side.”

“Wait? What are we doing?” Jeremy furrowed his brow at her, staring at her in confusion “I’m not sure I’m following.”

“We play the sympathy card Mr. Dooley. You grew up in poverty, often going without food for days, your current paycheck monthly barely covers your rent, let alone your school tuition or even groceries really, what else could you do but pinch a few dollars here and there. You barely took more than two-hundred your whole stint at the shop, you were taking small change in the grand scheme of things - it is quite the popular pizza place - because your boss doesn’t deem you worth the effort to pay a living wage, or even give you full time hours to try and make that wage. We can work with this Mr. Dooley, and it just might win you some support.”

-

Monday dawned bright and sunny in Los Santos, and saw Jeremy in another quick tête-à-tête with Lindsay, getting things straight. They both knew it was unlikely to play off the evidence his boss had against him, but people had gotten off charges like his before on the sympathy card.

“Alright Jeremy, what’s your story, one more time.” Lindsay said, she stood across the table from him, arms crossed over her chest, she was looking at him now, but had been periodically pacing the room, her Red Bottoms making a clatter on the concrete floor of the interrogation room.

“I grew up poor in Boston, I got a few grants to help pay for college tuition when I graduated high school last year, and I moved down here for it, I thought maybe there would be more job options once I was done school. My program is two years long, but I have to take next year off because I haven’t got the money for it anymore and I need to try and save up again.” He recited, trying not to pick at his fingernails, Lindsay had told him the day before when she had come by that it was an obvious nervous tic and Jenks’ lawyer would use it against him.

“Have you had any prior arrests, Mr. Dooley?” She asked, continuing their script.

“Four, back home in Boston, two were for fighting when I was fifteen, there were a couple of kids who would follow me home and taunt me, and I got sick of it after awhile, after the first fight they tried to get me back, but I was never charged”

“And the other two?”

“One of for vandalism, which I was charged for and did a two month term in juvy, and the other was for stealing”

“And why were you stealing Mr. Dooley?”

“I was still fifteen at the time, I wasn’t old enough to work yet, and my dad had just lost his job and hadn’t gotten his last pay from his previous job in yet, we had almost no money, and there was no food in the house” he paused, biting the inside of his cheek “I hadn’t eaten in almost five days, I was starving.”

“Were you charged for that one Mr. Dooley?”

“Yes, I was charged with theft over two candy bars and a sandwich, and I served six months in juvy for it” he looked back up to see Lindsay smiling at him, her hands by her sides now.

“That was good Jeremy, we can work with this. From what Ryan told me there are a number of people who are likely to sympathize with you on the jury so we may yet stand a chance.” She said, grinning down at him.

“How long do you think it’s gonna be? The trial and all?” he asked, he didn’t want to come off as nervous, but he could feel his stomach doing backflips and he hated it.

“We’re set to start at about one, depending on how quickly evidence is presented and statements by you, Jenks, and any other witnesses are made, followed by jury decisions, which I’m sure will see Ryan working as hard as he can to get you out on a not guilty verdict, I’d wager about three hours? Maybe four?” she gave him a reassuring smile “We’ll be out of there by dinner time, and I know for a fact Jack is on stand-by with a celebration dinner”

“What?” Jeremy’s brow furrowed as he looked back up at Lindsay.

“You can’t possibly think they’re doing all of this just so you can go back to delivering them pizza on Saturdays, do you?” she sounded genuinely flabbergasted by Jeremy’s obliviousness “They like the mettle you’re made of, they want you out of jail so you can be in the crew. I thought you knew that”

“I had no idea” he said, feeling dazed “I don’t really have anything to offer them”

“Of course you do, not everyone can be the Vagabond, and it’s not like you’re useless, Ramsey had Hullum and I look into you, a state gymnastics champion, football, honours graduate, not to mention you were a tough guy for an Irish mob family at sixteen? Why wouldn’t they want you?”

“Because I’ve got prints and a mugshot on record?” Lindsay just smirked at him, and leaned over, placing her hands on the desk in front of her, looking at him conspiratorially.

“So do Jones and Free. The two of them love chaos far too much for their own good” she grinned at him, sounding fond when she mentioned the two Lads “You’ll fit right in with the Lads, Dooley, trust me.” She straightened up again and smoothed out her blouse “Now, you’ve got two hours until the trial starts, go make yourself presentable.”

-

An hour and a half later found Jeremy dressed in pressed black pants and a plain white button down, pacing the floor in his cell, resisting the urge to rake his fingers through his hair, he wanted to be as presentable as physically possible, he wanted to make sure that he seemed like a normal college student who was just trying to get by in life.

“Dooley, you’re being summoned” it was the same C.O. who had taken him back and forth from his meetings with Lindsay, C.O. Matovina, who stood outside his cell door waiting for him. Jeremy nodded and swallowed hard, and stopped his pacing in front of the cell door, waiting for Matovina to open it for him. The C.O. pulled the door open and moved aside to let him through.

“There are police officers outside who will escort you into court” He said, leading Jeremy out of the block, as they reached the door the C.O. put a hand lightly on his shoulder “Good luck kid” he said simply before they were out in the hall between the holding cells and the front desk. Jeremy stayed silent the whole time, not really sure what to say, and simply nodded to the C.O. as he was handed off to two police officers, who promptly cuffed him and led him outside.

The sun was bright and it forced Jeremy to squint, there was a reason he was nearly never without sunglasses since he’d moved here, the sun never quit in this godforsaken city.

It took ten minutes for them to reach the courthouse, and Jeremy didn’t protest when the larger of the two police officers yanked him harder than necessary out of the car. He just wanted this to be over with, the more he cooperated the easier things would be in the long run.

At least, he hoped so.

It was all part of Lindsay’s plan; look small, sad, remorseful, maybe even a little pathetic. If he could manage that they might stand a chance. He knew Lindsay was doing the absolute most that she could for him, so it was only fair that he try and play the part the way she wrote it for him. So he didn’t fight. It was easier to get dragged along and make it look like he felt he deserved it. It’d drum up some sort of sympathy. At least, Lindsay thought so, and Jeremy had no cause to doubt her thus far.

Inside the courthouse it was mostly empty, it wasn’t like what he’d imagined, but he knew he was tainted from too many re-runs of _Law and Order_ , other than the jury, Mr. Jenks and his lawyer, and Lindsay, there was only a small handful of people, one woman he knew to be Jenks’ wife, and a few people who had been his coworkers at The Dwight Stuff, and it seemed that, his coworkers at least, were decidedly on his side, giving him encouraging smiles as he was led into the courtroom and up to the defendants table, where Lindsay already stood, her briefcase on the table, unlocked but not yet open, in it were the few items they’d be able to pull into his defence, the reports on his arrest for the theft back home in Boston, and a copy of his last paycheck from The Dwight Stuff Pizza, which totaled a measly $157 for over twenty hours of work. These two papers were to be played for sympathy from the jury, and now that he could see the group he felt sure it just might work. The jury consisted of a few kids his age, most of which looked to be in a similar position to himself, overworked, underpaid, and just plain tired, as well as a few people who looked like parents who seemed to already be sizing him up and seeing just a dumb kid who couldn’t be as bad as all this warranted. The only threat to the sympathy defence were a couple of guys who looked like they were in the same position as Jenks, business men in uptight suits who had already decided his fate because they didn’t see kids like him as worth paying a living wage.

Jeremy sidled up to the defense table, his head down the whole walk up the little aisle from the door. He glanced up quickly at Lindsay and she gave him an encouraging smile, and gestured for him to sit.

“I managed to get in and speak with some of your coworkers. They’ve agreed to be character witnesses in your defense.” She said, when she had been in the other day she had mentioned talking to his coworkers, but she wasn’t sure they’d agree, at some point between their meeting that morning and their arrival this afternoon she had managed to secure some support on his behalf.

“God fuckin hope it helps Linds” he said quietly, not quite under his breath, but almost. Lindsay gave his arm a reassuring squeeze and smiled at him.

“We’re gonna get through this, and you’ll be home before you know it” she said, matching his quiet tone. When Jeremy looked up at her the look in her eyes was so fierce it would have scared him if she weren’t his lawyer.

“I sure hope you’re right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I was having writer's block issues on this chapter I started working on another fahc fic, I haven't posted yet and it doesn't have a name yet, but if any of y'all follow my tumblr [sathtrash](http://sathtrash.tumblr.com/) you'll know that last summer I did some Mama Jack based headcanons about the crew forming, and it's basically that in fic form, so keep an eye out for that, like you know, eventually, if my dumbass brain works well enough to finished the damned thing.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally the trial. Lindsay battles it out on the court room floor for Jeremy's freedom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT IS COMPLETE! It's been a lot of fun writing this and I hope you guys like that FINAL installment of The Dwight Stuff Pizza. This is NOT going to be the last time I write FAHC, or even using the pizza boy background for Jeremy, but this is the end, so enjoy!

Ryan watched from the jury stand with baited breath. As each lawyer squared up and presented their case, and began calling witnesses he tried to keep himself visibly calm but inside he was going nuts.

He knew he could hang the jury. If he refused to budge on the case the jury would be hung and that would be that. But Jeremy would just get sent back to jail, they’d re-cast the jury, without Ryan on it, and re-do the trial, eventually, and without Ryan, even with Lindsay’s maneuvering, Jeremy would likely end up in prison.

Ryan couldn’t be responsible for drawing out Jeremy’s sentence like that. So he watched as the lawyers gave opening statements, and interviewed Jeremy’s ex-boss, Jenks, and prayed Lindsay’s character witnesses and her small evidence would help him.

“Your honour, the defence would like to call Trevor Collins to the witness stand” Lindsay said, she sounded powerful from her spot behind the defence table, she had a small pile of papers in front of her for reference from what Ryan could see, her hands placed widely on the table top.

“Proceed” said the judge, who, frankly, looked far too bored with the events playing out in front of him for Ryan’s taste.

A tall, sort of gangly looking young man with slicked back dark hair stood from the small gathered group in behind the defence and walked towards the witness stand. The court clerk had him give oath, and he sat down behind the stand.

“Mr. Collins, you worked with Mr. Dooley at The Dwight Stuff Pizza, correct?” Lindsay asked, approaching the stand.

“Yes ma’am” he said simply, smiling a little awkwardly. Ryan had to admit, this Trevor kid seemed quite the charmer, with his help they may stand a chance.

“And how long have you worked with Mr. Dooley?”

“About seven months before he was fired Ma’am”

“And what was your impression of Mr. Dooley?” Lindsay asked, leaning against the stand.

“Objection” Said Mr. Jenks’ lawyer, standing from his seat behind the prosecution.

“On what grounds?” Asked the bored looking judge.

“Relevance” said the prosecution lawyer simply.

“Get to the point Miss Tuggey” The judge said, looking down at her from his stand.

“Would you consider yourself friends with Mr. Dooley, Mr. Collins?” Lindsay asked, changing tactics.

“Yes ma’am, Jeremy and I are pretty good friends, we worked the night shift together most days, and hung around with each other on days off”

“Now, Mr. Collins did you know anything about the theft that Mr. Dooley was allegedly committing?” Lindsay asked.

“No ma’am” Trevor said “I never knew anything about it.”

“So why are you here as a witness today Mr. Collins, if you didn’t know about the alleged theft?”

“Because Jeremy’s a good guy ma’am, whether he stole money or not he doesn’t deserve prison” Trevor said honestly.

“Mr. Collins, do you still work for Mr. Jenks at The Dwight Stuff Pizza?”

“No ma’am, I was fired shortly after Jeremy was arrested”  
“On what grounds?” Lindsay asked.

“I wasn’t told why ma’am, but I assume it was because Jenks knew Jeremy and I are good friends, I think he assumed I was stealing too”

“Objection, relevance, your honour” cut in Jenks’ lawyer.

“Sustained, strike that last question for Mr. Collins”

Ryan glanced around at the jury surrounding him, while Trevor’s last question from Lindsay had been struck down it had done what Lindsay wanted it to do. The younger people on the jury already seemed angered by this whole ordeal over a dumb kid, and now seemed even more upset on behalf of Trevor, who was fired just for being friends with him. Even the older people, the people Ryan and the other Gents had thought would be harder to win when they were planning even looked upset. Some of them were business men, they knew that it was illegal to fire someone just for someone they were friends with who may have been pulling stupid shit. Ryan leaned back in his seat a bit, feeling a little more assured in his position on the jury.

“No further questions” Lindsay said, she had a wicked gleam in her eyes that Ryan saw as she turned to walk back to the defence table, her job with this specific witness done.

“Would you like to question the witness, Mr. Paul?” The judge asked when Trevor had sat for a moment too long on the stand with no lawyer interaction.

“No your honour” said Paul. Trevor stood from the jury stand and walked back out to the audience seats on legs that Ryan noticed were the slightest bit wobbly from nerves.

“Your honour, the prosecution would like to call Jeremy Dooley to the stand” Said Paul.

“Proceed” said the judge. Jeremy stood, took a deep breath, and walked towards the witness stand. Jeremy looked put together, but beat down, he walked with his shoulders hunched slightly forward, his head bowed. It was startling to Ryan to see that posture on Jeremy, he looked smaller than he really was, Ryan was so used to seeing him loud and happy, if a little tired from working the late shift, but otherwise fully bright and wonderful and himself, Ryan never wanted to see Jeremy look this low again. Ever.

Jeremy sidled up to the stand, took oath, and sat, waiting for Mr. Paul to start his questioning.

“Mr. Dooley how long were you working at Mr. Jenks’ pizza shop?” he asked, hands behind his back, one hand clasping onto his wrist as he walked towards him.

“I worked there for about a year, sir” he said, voice subdued.

“And when was it that you started pinching money?”  
“Objection your honour, leading the witness!” Lindsay interrupted, looking furious.

“Sustained, Mr. Paul I suggest you keep to the facts, not the allegations.” The judge said, finally looking like he was paying attention, and looking, frankly, very annoyed.

“Of course your honour” Paul said, pursing his lips in annoyance.

“Do you recognize these, Mr. Dooley?” Paul asked, sliding a few papers onto the witness stand.

“Yes sir.” Jeremy said, his mouth suddenly tight.

“Can you tell the jury what it is that I have given you, Mr. Dooley?” Paul asked, looking devious.

“My juvenile detention records.” Jeremy said simply. Ryan watched his jaw flex as he clenched his teeth, noting the anger and annoyance in Jeremy’s every tensed muscle.

“Mr. Dooley can you read your record for the jury” Paul said, he looked like a devil with the way his lips curled in a small, evil looking smile.

“Charged in January 2014 for vandalism, sentenced to four months in juvenile detention.” Jeremy gritted out, seemingly doing everything to keep control of his temper, clearly this had caught him off guard, and when Ryan glanced at Lindsay, he saw that it had taken her by surprise as well.

“And the other charge?”

“Charged in February 2013 for petty theft, sentenced to six months in juvenile detention”

“Nothing further your honour” Paul said, giving Jeremy an evil grin, and went back to the prosecution. Lindsay stood from the defence table and walked towards Jeremy, her red-bottoms clocking the floor in a rhythm so fast that Ryan knew she was livid despite her calm facade.

“Mr. Dooley, who charged you for petty theft?”

“It was the manager of a grocery store near my high school, he caught me pinching a couple of candy bars and a ham sandwich, ma’am” Jeremy said, head down, he looked embarrassed.

“Why was it that you stole the food Mr. Dooley?” Lindsay asked, leaning against the witness stand.

“I uh” He paused, clearing his throat “I had just recently turned fifteen at the time, my dad had lost his job and we had no cash and no food in the house, his last cheque wasn’t gonna be in for at least a week, and I hadn’t eaten in four days, my high school didn’t provide a lunch or breakfast program for kids like me. I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t been starving” he said. Ryan watched him, and saw nothing but bitterness and open truth in Jeremy’s face. He knew that feeling too, he knew what it was like to be so hungry you’d do anything for even a small bite of food, and he was desperately sad to know that Jeremy had also experienced it, and so young too, only fifteen, just a kid. He listened to the small rumble of noise through the jury, the soft gasps from the parents in the jury, and the sighs of acknowledgment from the kids Jeremy’s age.

It was at that point, Ryan finally felt like they stood a real chance at winning this thing. Even the guys they had all assumed would side with Jenks were clearly upset by the turn of events when it came to Mr. Paul pulling out the juvy records without any by your leave. They saw it for the dirty move that it was.

“Nothing further.” Lindsay said simply, giving Paul a smug look as she walked back to the defence table.

The verbal sparring continued for another hour, Jenks’s lawyer brought Jenks to the stand and he spoke about complaints from customers that were, even to Ryan’s ears, completely false, he had been Jeremy’s customer and even at nearly three am on a Wednesday with class in the morning and having got up at six am that day he’d never been anything but chipper and upbeat. Lindsay pulled his coworkers, people who had never had a single complaint about him, who enjoyed working with him, and had even had people specifically request that he deliver for them, and how disappointed those people were when they found out that Jeremy was no longer working there, she even called some of those customers up to the stand. The overwhelming consensus by all was that Jeremy was a delight to work with, and didn’t deserve jail time.

And then Lindsay pulled out her smoking gun.

“Your honour, Mr. Dooley’s defence would like to submit evidence for the review of the jury” Lindsay said, she was leaning slightly over the defence table, her shoulders back, some of her hair had escaped from her demure bun with the sheer amount she had been moving through the courtroom.

“Bring the evidence forth Miss Tuggey” said the judge, sitting forward in his seat. Lindsay hurried around the defence table and handed the papers to the judge, who looked puzzled “What am I looking at Miss Tuggey?” He asked, looking away from the papers and back at Lindsay.

“You’re looking at copies of Mr. Dooley’s last two pay stubs from The Dwight Stuff Pizza, along with his schedule for the two weeks that are reflected on the pay stubs” The judge nodded slightly, brows furrowed, and handed to papers back to Lindsay.

“You may proceed Miss Tuggey” he said simply.

Lindsay strode towards the jury stand and handed six sheets of paper to each person in the front row, asking them to pass three of the sheets to the people sitting in behind them.

“What you have in your hands, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, are copies of Mr. Dooley’s last two pay stubs, and his schedules for the weeks reflected on the pay stubs.” She paused and took a quick breath before she continued “As you can see reflected on these pay stubs Mr. Dooley was receiving, on average, approximately one-hundred-and-fifty dollars per pay, Mr. Jenks pays weekly because it’s easier for him as a small business owner. Now, if you would all look at the schedules for Mr. Dooley you’ll see that each week he is scheduled for about twenty-five hours, which, having seen several of his other schedules while I’ve worked with him, is the average amount of hours Mr. Dooley was getting during his time working for Mr. Jenks. Now, I’ve done the math on this, and that averages out to Mr. Jenks paying his employees, or at the very least Mr. Dooley, approximately six dollars an hour, which is below the state minimum wage.” Ryan had glanced up at the prosecution table while Lindsay was speaking and he could see the pure rage in Jenks’ face. He was being outed against his will for mistreating his employees and he was livid.

Lindsay walked away from the jury stand, looking somewhat smug, and she continued her monologue.

“I have spoken with Mr. Dooley’s former coworkers from The Dwight Stuff Pizza, Mr. Collins, Mr. Matt Bragg” She gestured to a tall man with longish brown hair seated near Trevor who had also spoken on Jeremy’s behalf. “And a few others, and this is the norm. Each of the people under Mr. Jenks’ employ have told me of the mistreatment by overworking and low wages, they have spoken to me about the fact that Jenks will verbally abuse employees for mistakes on orders that will cost him time and money to fix. Mr. Dooley is not an outlier in this case, he is one of many who have been mistreated by Mr. Jenks, who’s to say this whole trial isn’t a ploy on his part to keep Mr. Dooley from speaking out about what has happened once he realized what was going on behind the scenes.” Lindsay finished speaking, and Ryan saw, imperceptibly, that she was breathing heavily, and she had caused a stir in the jury, and Ryan knew they had won. She strode back to the defence table, her back ramrod straight, head held high. Ryan glanced over at Jeremy who was just barely hiding his grin as Lindsay sat back down. Mr. Jenks and his lawyer were seemingly entirely speechless. The judge called for the prosecution’s closing statements, having assumed that Lindsay’s rant about the schedules and pay stubs had been the defence’s closing statement, Mr. Paul stuttered out a half-assed statement and Ryan and the rest of the jury were dismissed for deliberation.

In the jury room there was simply silence for several moments before anyone spoke, and to Ryan’s complete surprise, it was one of the business men, a man he thought was called Jackson.

“If I’m completely honest, I don’t think the kid’s guilty.” He said simply, sitting back in his chair.

“I’d have to agree” said the woman who had reminded him of Jack at the selection “He just seems like a goofy kid, and even if he had taken some money I don’t blame him, I would have too if I was making six dollars an hour working over twenty hours a week! That’s absurd”

“He’s in college too” said one of the kids “I’ve seen him around my campus, and it’s not a cheap school”

“He must be pretty far from home” Ryan chimed in, keeping his voice light and subdued “He’s got a bit of a Boston accent, six dollars an hour, going to school, and trying to pay rent in this city? If the kid was pinching money I’m not sure any of us could blame him for it” there were slow nods of agreement throughout the room, after Lindsay’s closing statement Ryan had assumed victory, but it wasn’t until this moment, with everyone nodding in agreement, that he was sure of it.

“So, not guilty then?” Said the woman Ryan had been sitting next to the whole trial. The universal nods came again, and someone grabbed the slip of paper they’d been given to write the decision on. There was a moment’s hesitation, another quick murmur of agreement for the not guilty verdict through the room, and the man wrote it down. He folded the page in half and looked up at the group.

“They’re gonna ask one of us to come up to give the verdict, any volunteers?” He asked, glancing around him at the others, no one spoke up right away.

“I’ll do it” Ryan said, grabbing the slip of paper, he glanced at his watch, not quite four o’clock “If we get this over with I can be home in time for dinner with the family” He said, not altogether a lie, but the assembled group needn’t know the whole truth, of any of this.

There were nods and mumbled agreements, and the group stood, and headed back into the court room.

Once the court was properly back in session the judge called for a member of the jury to stand and deliver the verdict.

“How do you find the defendant on charges of theft, ladies and gentlemen of the jury?” the judge asked, regarding Ryan with boredom.

“We the jury find the defendant, Jeremy Dooley, not guilty, your honour.” He said simply, head held high, the judge nodded, and banged his gavel down, though Ryan wasn’t entirely sure why.

“You’re free to go Mr. Dooley, I hope I never see you in this court room again.” He said lightly, smiling. Ryan finally chanced a look over at Jeremy who looked completely shocked.

“Thank you sir, I’ll see too it that I don’t end up back here” he stuttered out, he looked at Lindsay, grinning, he had absolutely no idea it would go this well. It made Ryan sad to think that Jeremy had been so resigned to prison he hadn’t even considered the possibility of the case being won, even with Lindsay’s expertise.

Ryan filed out with the rest of the jury after the crowd and defense and prosecution had filed out, he walked to his car, and shot Lindsay a quick text, making sure they’d be at dinner, before he texted Jack, letting her know the outcome of the case, and that Jeremy and Lindsay would be there soon enough.

He drove back to the penthouse in giddy silence, he didn’t bother turning on the radio, or doing anything else, his mind was far too preoccupied.

Jeremy would be at the penthouse when he got there. And he’d be staying. Hopefully for good.

He hadn’t allowed himself to even really think about the fact that they really could win, and that after it was all over Jeremy would be asked to join the Fake AH Crew, he had certainly hoped that the outcome would be in their favour, but he hadn’t known for sure they could win. He’d have to apologize to Lindsay later for doubting her.

When he arrived home, he jogged up the front steps of the building, taking them two at a time, and pressed the elevator button so hard he had to pause for a second to wonder if he’d broken it.

The elevator ride seemed slower than it ever had, but finally it opened up on the penthouse and he went in grinning.

“Guess who’s not fucking going to jail!” he yelled, he couldn’t see anyone when he came in, Jack, and maybe Gavin, were likely in the kitchen working on supper, Geoff in his study, and Michael was who knows where. There was a long moment of silence and then he heard running feet, and Gavin and Michael burst into the living room from the kitchen where apparently both of them had been with Jack, looking excited.

“Really Ryan? You did it?” Gavin asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“I didn’t, Lindsay did, she kicked ass today, pulled pay stubs, character witnesses, threw Jenks’ lawyer’s bullshit right back in his face, it was fucking legendary!”

“Are they on their way? Is she bringing Jeremy?” Michael asked, he was a little more subdued than Gavin, but still obviously excited. Ryan was about to answer him when there was a tentative knock on the front door behind them, and then a louder, surer, knock. Ryan jumped into action and pulled the door open as quickly as he could.

Jeremy stood on the threshold looking nervous but happy, Lindsay stood just behind him, looking smug, and pushed him through the door.

Ryan grinned and pulled Jeremy into a tight hug. When he pulled away he grinned at Jeremy and ruffled his hair a bit.

“Welcome home buddy” Ryan said, watching the grin spread across Jeremy’s face as he was mobbed by Gavin and Michael.

“It’s good to be home”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want more fuckery when it comes to the fahc from me in your life while you wait for any other fics I may post in the universe you can head on over to my tumblr sathtrash and just listen to me scream into the void about this AU!


End file.
